Bernard Jenkin

Long before it became fashionable, Bernard Jenkin was fighting for Britain to leave the European Union. In fact, he was one of several Tory MPs who refused to back former Prime Minister John Major over the Maastricht Treaty.

He is one of May’s strongest allies while she pursues the approach set out in her Lancaster House speech, but if May deviates from pure Brexit she could discover — just like her predecessors — what a force he can be. Influential on the backbenches, he is battle-hardened from years of fighting for British sovereignty.

PARTY: Conservative

POSITION: Backbench MP and chair of the public administration committee

MP SINCE: 1992

REMAINIAC OR BREXTREMIST? Brexit

Return to the full list of 40 Brexit troublemakers to discover who to watch as legislation disentangling Britain from the European Union goes through the U.K. parliament. For an explanation of how this list was compiled, see here.